Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Headlines - Wednesday

Rep. Michele "Crazy Eyes" Bachmann has introduced a House resolution condemning the president for refusing to defend DOMA.

Then she leapt on her dinosaur and galloped back to Teabagistan.

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"There will be a shaking coming to Japan that will bring them to their knees. This shaking will change the industry of the nation. Japan has been built upon a fault line linked with a deep wounding from the past. This shaking will occur before the apostolic team that I am sending to Japan arrives. When they arrive, I will begin the healing of the fault line and release a new anointing for industries. I am sending you to the people group of that area and they will be humbled in the midst of their pride. Do not fear. I am causing the mountain to be brought down and the valleys to be brought up. I will create a leveling effect in Japan." - Pastor Chuck Pierce, today quoting what God told him in a 2005 "prophetic revelation" about Japan's evil "spiritism." Not too far off from TamTamPamela, eh?

RELATED:Right Wing Watch writes us to observe that Pierce can been seen waving a flag in the audience of the below Sarah Palin Is The Chosen One clip.

War schlub David Petraeus did one of his "report cards to the Senate" things today, and he's got good news! Despite never accomplishing* a single thing in 10 years of bloody, pointless, horrific boondoggle Central Asian warfare, "It is only recently that we have gotten the inputs right in Afghanistan." Oh, now we get it! Afghanistan is like an old person trying to plug in an iPad. No, wait, the iPad wasn't yet invented when we invaded Afghanistan. The iPhone? Nope. The Microsoft Zune? Ha ha, the Zune's entire life has come and gone during just the second half (so far) of the Afghanistan occupation. Well how about an old-school iPod, with Grampa (who was much younger then!) just cold confused over that weird Apple firewire plug? No, sorry. The invasion of Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001 — the first clunky iPod went on sale several weeks later, on October 23. READ MORE »

Japan's nuclear powerplants have performed magnificently in the face of a disaster hugely greater than they were designed to withstand, remaining entirely safe throughout and sustaining only minor damage. The unfolding Fukushima story has enormously strengthened the case for advanced nations – including Japan – to build more nuclear powerplants, in the knowledge that no imaginable disaster can result in serious problems.

Yes, without serious Japanese government regulation, the disaster could have been much worse. Here's how it doesn't apply to America: Republicans hate regulations. Plus, the regulatory system here is broken (see also BP oil spill). So, as I've been repeating, establishing more power plants with Fukushima as a benchmark for safety might work -- as long as the Republicans don't dismantle the regulations in the process. And they tend to do that. A lot. I mean, Mitch McConnell has no interest in even discussing regulating the nuclear industry.

All told, we ought to consider any new regulatory structure around the nuclear industry as temporary.

In a speech to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce today, [Haley Barbour] accused President Obama of purposely trying to drive up the price of oil, saying that "the Obama energy policy basically boils down to this: increase the price of energy so Americans will use less of it. That's an environmental policy, not an energy policy."

Yep. Haley Barbour said that. The country-fried yokel (and proud lobbyist) who, while head of the Republican Governor's Association, took $5 million from Big Oil.

Guh-yuck.

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TPM: Thirty-one Republicans on the House Energy And Commerce Committee -- the entire Republican contingent on the panel -- declined on Tuesday to vote in support of the very idea that climate change exists.

Many doctors are particularly frustrated with the price hike because to date, KV Pharmaceuticals has not had to bear the cost of the clinical trials used to get the drug approved, but they have announced plans to conduct further trials in the future.

"All the upfront development of the drug was done by the National Institute of Health. You and I paid for that with our tax dollars, it's not like this pharmaceutical company is trying to recoup its investments in research and development, as is usually the reason for the price of new drugs," says Dr. Kevin Ault, associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine.

"And at $1,500 a shot ... to put it in perspective: If I were your obstetrician, and you had a normal delivery, including about eight office visits, I would be paid $2,500 in total for that. It's hard for me to believe that we're going to tack on 10 times that amount just for one treatment," he says.

Japan was warned more than two years ago by the international nuclear watchdog that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes, leaked diplomatic cables reveal.

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A US embassy cable obtained by the WikiLeaks website and seen by The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed expert who expressed concern that guidance on how to protect nuclear power stations from earthquakes had only been updated three times in the past 35 years.

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The cables also disclose how the Japanese government opposed a court order to shut down another nuclear power plant in western Japan because of concerns it could not withstand powerful earthquakes.

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In this day of lousy reportage on anything aside celebrity meltdowns (and there we learn every insignificant detail), we should all thank our lucky stars for organizations like Wikileaks.

Yes, folks -- this is what HuffPo has come to -- giving Andrew Breitbart a podium to defend a sniveling little rat-faced git who ought to right now be a prison bitch for a 350-pound mass murderer.

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Sorry, Arianna*, but you're one of the problems with this country. You value money more than principle. You're outta here.

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Why did Gilbert Gottfried get fired for telling tsunami jokes, while Glenn Beck didn't for saying the Japanese earth-quake was a message from God? Was it because what Glenn said was funnier?

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If you bought into this idea that a "free and unfettered" internet meant that corporations should be able to own it and charge what they want, then you are a schmuck. Because this is what you are getting.

A grotesque 68-year-old car salesman, Republican "young gun" (?!) and failed Senate/House candidate from Ohio has been charged with "three felony charges of gross sexual imposition, and single counts of kidnapping, abduction, solicitation, and menacing by stalking." Tea Party-endorsed Tom Ganley allegedly attacked a woman from Cleveland and stuck his hands down her pants after she refused his sexual advances, at a car dealership, where she was having her car serviced. During his campaign against Congresswoman Betty Sutton, Ganley redundantly described the sex-crime allegations against him as "lies, slander and false" and then helpfully explained that his victim was a Democrat, even though she's a teabagger he met at a Tea Party rally. And then he threatened to sue his opponent when even more women came forward claiming that Ganley committed sex terribleness against them. READ MORE »

So much for the crap that when American companies make money, they hire more people, which result in good jobs for Americans.

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House GOP declares emergency to discuss job creation. Oh wait .....

…meeting to discuss NPR. (Nice Polite Republicans)

No, really.

Everything going on in the world today, and they are declaring an emergency meeting to discuss defunding NPR? What, the never-ending pledge drive finally got to them, too? Or did Conan-the-Librarian's mealy-mouthed worminess drove them crazy, too/also? Melissa Block's slurring slurpy voice? What was it?!

Wonkette: In his first nationally televised address ever, Emperor Akihito — who is 77 and apparently very shy — said he was terribly concerned about the current Nuclear Disaster, and asked for human compassion to help "overcome these difficult times." Difficult times is a bit of an understatement. Authorities say a containment vessel at the Fukushima plant might be leaking radioactive steam, and a spike in radiation forced workers to abandon emergency cooling efforts at one reactor. Oh, and there's already a fire at a different reactor, according to the company that operates the plant. Meanwhile, there are 3,600 confirmed deaths since Friday, and more than 7,800 remain missing and unaccounted for. 440,000 people are living in makeshift shelters or evacuation centers. Perhaps a modest donation to the Red Cross might be appropriate, even if you've been eating hobo beans and canned anus for the last six months. [NYT]

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Surgeon General: 'Appropriate' To Buy Radiation Pills, If You Can Find Any